A War of Biblical Proportions Brews

by Jack Lee

Probably the most under-reported story in the world today is the war building between Sunni and Shia Muslims in the Middle East.

Syria is fast becoming not just a battle ground to depose a dictatorial regime, but a contest between Shiites and Sunni over who should lead the burgeoning Muslim world.

At least 330 people were reported dead Saturday in Syria, marking the highest single-day death toll since the start of the uprising, according to opposition activists.

If the Syrian insurrection succeeds I can make you one guarantee – it will not bode well for Iran’s internal security and recent rise to power and it could lead to an even greater war across the middle east.

Here’s a little history lesson to bring this into context. Since the inception of Iran’s conversion to an Islamic state it has been viewed as a pariah among Arab people. Why? Because Iranians are Persians, not Arabs, as most Westerner’s tend to believe. Persians and Arabs are embroiled in a centuries old divide, deeply rooted in wars. “I think the majority of Iranians of all types hate Arabs, and I believe they hate us, too,” Sadek Zibakalam, a professor at the University of Tehran, said in an interview with the Iranian weekly Sobh Azade.

Zibakalam said there is a link between racism and a lack of education, and pointed out that this is the case in Europe, where people who express hatred against Jews or Muslims or foreigners are mostly uneducated. However, the situation tends to be different in Iran. “The phenomenon of hating Arabs is very common among intellectuals in Iran,” he said.

Now we have a three-way power struggle, Sunni, Shia and a dictator in Syria who leaned towards the Shiites and Iran.

Iranian’s are mostly Shiite and only recently their world looked pretty good. Iran was gaining ground with their Shiite allies in Iraq and if that solidified into a firm alliance it was thought to be the final link that could spread Iran’s power across Iraq and all the way Lebanon. Lebanon is heavily influenced by the radical terrorist organization Hezbollah that has pledged to destroy Israel which makes them natural allies of Iran.

Hezbollah are constantly probing Israeli defenses, looking for any excuse to start a war between Arab states and Israel.

If you are not totally confused by now, let me try to help sort it out. Hezbollah is Shia, so is Assad and so is Iran…getting the picture? A majority of Iraqi’s are Shia too, and after the Saddam was deposed (he was pro-Sunni) this left a virtual Shiite corridor across the Middle East, and this would not be good for peace, and certainly not good

for Western powers, something the US feared most. Syria’s President, Bashar Hafez al-Assad (see right), had been drawing closer to Hezbollah, supplying them with more deadly firepower and this was another big concern for the US and for Israel.

How this will all play out depends on how Syria emerges from the civil war and right now it looks like Assad could go at any moment.

A civil war is also in the works inside Iraq. There’s been a dramatic uptick in violence and political instability in Iraq. And it looks like Baghdad is tilting toward civil war. The Washington Times reports, “A half-year after the U.S. military left Iraq, the war-weary country is beset by violence as insurgents take advantage of the power struggles between the country’s ethnic and sectarian factions.” A civil war in Iraq would be far worse for US interests than the war in Syria.

Back to Iran. Iran’s misfortunes began with the surprise uprising in Egypt ushered in the Sunni composed Muslim Brotherhood. Now they’re close to losing another ally in Syria if Assad is deposed. Iran does not have many friends in the world and the loss of Syria as an ally will be a disaster.

Egypt, among a few other smaller Arab states, is the prime supplier of weapons to the opposition forces in Syria trying desperately to unseat Assad and this puts them at odds with Iran.

As confusing as all this may be for the average Westerner, what is glaringly obvious for everyone in the Middle East, is a great war is building that could lead to a showdown between Sunni and Shiite. Even in Iraq the fighting between Shiite and Sunni has never been worse. Nobody is reporting this and Iraq is really in trouble…thanks to us.

If you want to put in Western terms, what we have now is like a war between Catholics and Pentecostals. This would risk the hopes of the Arab Spring movement, democratic reforms, threaten global oil supplies and force Western powers to pick a side or more likely, intervene for peacekeeping.